Cases doubling in 4.1 days; without Jamaat, it would’ve been in 7.4 days

NEW DELHI: India’s Covid-19 cases are doubling in 4.1 days after a sudden spurt following Tablighi Jamaat congregation. This doubling rate, as per ministry of health and family welfare, would have been 7.4 days had the religious meeting not triggered the surge.

“If we compare Tablighi Jamaat congregation and if that had not taken place, our doubling rate is 4.1 days and had those cases not happened the doubling rate would be 7.4 days right now,” said joint secretary (health) Lav Agarwal. This is the fourth consecutive day the ministry has blamed the surge in cases on Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Banglewaali Masjid in Nizamuddin area.

The ministry maintained cases reported across 14 states have linkages with Tablighi Jamaat. These include Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Delhi, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.


Official data analysed by ET reveals that top 10 states showing a sudden surge in cases have reported Tablighi Jamaat linkages. Moreover, 85% of the cases in these states have been reported over the last five days since Tablighi linkages were established. States like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhiand Assam have seen a surge since March 31. As per ministry, positive cases in these states have Tablighi linkages. Tamil Nadu, for instance, has 476 active Covid cases, of which 417 have been reported between March 31 and April 4. Similarly, Telangana has 230 active cases and 201 were added in the same time frame of five days. Andhra Pradesh added 138 of 159 active cases, Delhi 358 of 424 and Uttarakhand 15 of 20 cases during this time. All cases reported from Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been linked to the religious congregation.

Over the last 24 hours, the ministry has reported an increase of 472 cases – down from 601 the previous day. Eleven deaths have been reported over the last 24 hours. The total death count is 79 now. Overall 267 persons have recovered from Covid-19. Haryana has had a very high recovery rate with 24 patients recovered and 25 active cases.